Dane Lloyd named as Conservative candidate in upcoming by-election

The Conservative Party of Canada has a new candidate for the Sturgeon River – Parkland riding and his name is Dane Lloyd.

Lloyd was named as the Conservative candidate for the upcoming by-election to replace former MP for the region, Rona Ambrose, on Sunday, Sept. 24. after beating out fellow nomination candidates Rick Peterson, Jamie Mozeson and Luke Inberg.

The Conservative nomination vote was held at Stony Plain’s Heritage Park pavilion on Saturday, Sept. 23. All four nominees for the candidacy were given 10 minutes to speak as to why they should be nominated to represent the Conservative voice in Sturgeon River — Parkland. Lloyd and former Conservative leadership candidate, Peterson, emerged as the frontrunners of the race with both candidates garnering significant applause from the crowd and endorsements from local conservative voices like John Williams, the former MP for Sturgeon River — Parkland (who supported Lloyd) and Bill Peters (who supported Peterson).

Lloyd, a former staffer on Conservative campaigns dating back to 2005-2006 and second lieutenant with the Canadian Armed Forces Reserves, focused his campaign speech on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling him someone who didn’t know how to manage a business.

“One thing is clear, Justin Trudeau has never run a small business in his life and he’s never run a family farm in his life. He does not know what it takes to run a successful business,” Lloyd said.

Lloyd said his key policy planks were fighting against what he called the Liberal’s small business and family farm tax grab, the national carbon tax (which garnered much applause) as well as victim rights.

“As (your Member of Parliament) I pledge to introduce no body, no parole legislation that ensure that convicted killers like Travis Vader will be behind bars where he belongs,” Lloyd said.

Former MP for the riding, Rona Ambrose, congratulated Lloyd over Twitter in the wake of his nomination saying,

“Congratulations on winning the @CPC_HQ nomination in Sturgeon River — Parkland, Now it’s on to the byelection. Good luck!”

Lloyd also received congratulations from United Conservative Party leadership candidate, Jason Kenney, who tweeted out his support for Lloyd, a former intern of Kenney’s.

As the Conservative nominee, Lloyd will run against NDP candidate Shawna Gawreluck, Liberal candidate Brian Gold and Christian Heritage Party candidate Ernest Chauvet. The byelection is scheduled for Oct. 23, 2017.